As time went on, I learned even more about how food is made, and I extended my no-go list.

Mostly, I just hadn’t realized so many things contained sliced, diced, and ground animals. Like for instance the omnipresent gelatin, found in beloved gummy bears. (which I still have a hard time regularly avoiding).

I share the following factoids not to convince you of a meat-free diet (although I will argue that it’s better for you and for the planet!), but simply to illustrate how truly gross some daily ingredients are.

The Gross List

Rennet: One of the saddest realizations for me was that vast majority of tasty cheeses contain CALF GUTS.

Many cheeses are produced with enzymes milled from deep frozen stomachs of calves. The enzyme is called rennet, and it is used to coagulate milk. Let’s just read this delectable snippet about how rennet is extracted today:

“Natural calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber of slaughtered young, unweaned calves. These stomachs are a by-product of veal production.”

Carmine: This is a common red food-coloring found in candy, ice cream, ruby-red juice, and more. Know what it’s made of? BOILED INSECTS:

“Carmine may be prepared from cochineal [a parasite from South America], by boiling dried insects in water to extract the carminic acid and then treating the clear solution with alum.”

Bone Char The CHARRED BONES of animals are used to bleach sugar. You’ll feel comforted knowing that they no longer use the skull and spine, in order to prevent the spread of mad cow disease.

Other gross things: isinglass, fish bladders commonly used to filter beer and wine; all the ways blood has been turned soup (like on the right), sauce, and even pancakes; stearic acid extracted from the fats of euthanized shelter animals to harden candy; and so many others.

3 comments

I have realized a long time ago, and being 35 it was not that long ago, that if we have to know how most of our food, whether fast, pre-prepared or otherwise came to be, we would not eat or drink anything in good faith.

Instead I think we have to try and be responsible with what we eat, and eat only as much as we really need, and as far as possible, opt for organic, free range and fair trade products. Other than that, we have to accept that there are some things we have the power to change and others, we have to accept.